In brief
- US President Donald Trump has made a social media post setting out his terms for ending US attacks on Iran.
- Just hours before Trump’s post, Iran’s president announced that unspecified countries had begun mediation efforts.
Israel has declared a fresh series of extensive military strikes on Tehran this Saturday. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has made it clear there will be no negotiations with Iran unless it agrees to “unconditional surrender.”
Trump’s statement was issued shortly after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian shared on social media that unnamed countries had begun mediation efforts, raising a brief glimmer of hope for a resolution amidst ongoing aerial exchanges between Israel and Iran.
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump proclaimed on his Truth Social platform Friday.
He further elaborated, saying, “After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, along with many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction,” emphasizing efforts to rejuvenate Iran’s economy.
Trump ended his post with the slogan “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!),” playing off his well-known campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”
When pressed on Friday about what Trump meant by “unconditional surrender,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was questioned for clarification.
“What the president means is that when he, as commander in chief of the US Armed Forces, determines that Iran no longer poses a threat to the United States of America, and the goals of Operation Epic Fury has been fully realised, then Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional surrender, whether they say it themselves or not,” Leavitt said.
The US was on its way towards controlling Iranian airspace, Leavitt said, adding that it expects the achievable objectives to be completed in four to six weeks.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Leavitt also said the administration was looking at potential candidates to lead Iran, a day after Trump told Reuters the US should play a role in helping choose a replacement for the country’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the war’s first day.
“I know there’s a number of people that our intelligence agencies and the United States government are looking at, but I won’t get any further on that,” Leavitt said.
Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, said the US would have no role in selecting Khamenei’s successor.
“The selection of Iran’s leadership will take place strictly in accordance with our constitutional procedures and solely by the will of the Iranian people, without any foreign interference,” he added.
Israel, Iran trade strikes
Early on Saturday, missiles were seen flying towards Israel as the Israeli military said it had identified missiles launched from Iran towards Israel. Explosions could be heard as Israeli defences were activated to shoot down incoming Iranian fire, while air raid alerts and explosions rang out above Jerusalem.
Air raid alerts and explosions were also heard in the Gulf cities of Dubai, Manama and near Riyadh, where Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile fired at an air base housing US military personnel.
Earlier on Friday, the US pledged to respond to Iranian attacks on civilians throughout the Middle East, with the US Central Command leader Brad Cooper saying that, since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran last week, Iran had now attacked 12 different countries: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates.
Shortly after Iran’s attacks on Israel, the Israeli army announced “a broad-scale wave of strikes” on government sites in the Iranian capital, and AFP photos showed fire and smoke billowing from Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport after it was hit.
On Friday, Israel said 50 of its warplanes had struck a bunker beneath the destroyed Tehran compound of Khamenei, still being used by Iran’s leadership after he was killed.
The US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani. Iranian attacks have killed 11 people in Israel, and at least six US service members have been killed.
Meanwhile, Israel has also continued pounding Lebanon after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the entire southern suburbs of the nation’s capital, Beirut, on Friday.
Israel said it was hitting Iranian and Hezbollah targets, but has also been accused of striking a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) base in southern Lebanon, leaving three wounded.
Iran says ‘mediation efforts’ underway
Trump’s “unconditional surrender” post came just hours after Iran’s president announced that unspecified countries had begun mediation efforts in one of the first signals of any diplomatic initiative to end the conflict.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on X: “Some countries have begun mediation efforts.”
He did not identify the countries or provide further details.
“Let’s be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region, but we have not the slightest hesitation in defending the dignity and authority of our country. Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict,” he said.
Under Iran’s system, the president is subordinate to the supreme leader, but Pezeshkian is now serving on a panel that has assumed Khamenei’s duties.
Blurring the lines of reality
On Friday, the White House’s social media blurred the lines of reality after posting montages that wove snippets of Hollywood blockbusters and video games into real footage of military strikes on Iran.
A 42-second video posted on X with the caption “Justice the American way” opens with a scene from the film Iron Man and the line “Wake up, Daddy’s home”, which is likely a reference to an expression used by NATO chief Mark Rutte, who once referred to US President Donald Trump as “daddy.”
What follows are clips from male actors cast as heroes, including Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick, Mel Gibson in Braveheart, Russell Crowe in Gladiator, Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad, and Keanu Reeves in John Wick.
Hollywood’s heroics are interspersed with footage released by the US military showing real strikes on various targets.
Actor and filmmaker Ben Stiller on Friday called on the White House to remove a clip in the video from Tropic Thunder, a satirical 2008 film about war movies that he directed and co-wrote.
“We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie,” Stiller wrote on X.
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